Ottawa Sinkhole Day 2: Boil water advisory for some Rideau buildings; road closures still in place

The city has issued a “precautionary boil water” advisory for three Rideau Street businesses as it continues to assess and repair the damage from the enormous sinkhole that opened up Wednesday morning.

The boil water advisory affects the Chapters/Starbucks location at 47 Rideau St., Holtz Spa next door at 45 Rideau and the CIBC building at 41 Rideau.

In a briefing to reporters, Mayor Jim Watson and other city officials said the cave in measures 40 metres long, 28 metres wide and up to five metres deep. Crews have been dumping concrete in since Wednesday night to stabilize the hole. More than 2,700 cubic metres of concrete have already been poured into the hole, entombing a van that had toppled in Wednesday as well as some other construction equipment that couldn’t be safely removed.

The cause of the sinkhole is still unknown, but the city said the damage did not affect the adjacent Rideau station LRT tunnel under construction.

Hydro service has been restored and in a 4 p.m. update on its website, the city said gas service had been restored as well. The ruptured gas line had left many businesses, including the nearby Chateau Laurier hotel, without hot water.

An OC Transpo bus carrying 40 to 50 people had passed over the site minutes before the collapse, which occurred at about 10:40 a.m. Wednesday.

Roads are still closed in the area, including the normally busy intersection of Rideau and Sussex. Watson said it could be “two to three” weeks before bus service resumes on Rideau Street. The road was already closed to all traffic except for buses and taxis. Buses have been rerouted onto the Mackenzie King Bridge.

The sinkhole meant more bad news Thursday for some businesses in the Rideau Centre.

A little after 9 a.m. an official from Ottawa Public Health arrived and ordered small restaurants in the Rideau Centre to close because their water may be contaminated.

“It’s very difficult,” said Umut Ozerkan who owns Michel’s Bakery Café. He said the loss from closing Wednesday and Thursday will cost him $5,000 to $6,000.

The bakery counter was loaded at the time with croissants, salads and sandwiches. Pots of coffee were full.

“Ninety per cent of the pastry is going to go to the garbage” he said. Salads and sandwiches were headed for the garbage too. And he hasn’t been told whether he can reopen Friday.

“Our rents are very high here,” and one bad day can make or break a full month’s business, he said.

The owner of Jimmy the Greek, who would only give his first name, Kourosh, had been working since 7 a.m. cooking rice, potatoes, chicken and vegetables. He estimates closing for the day costs him up to $6,000 in gross sales on top of the same loss Wednesday.

There was no warning, Kourosh said. “We prepare everything and suddenly they tell me I can’t sell it.”

Inside the Rideau Centre there was construction noise and a flow of workers in fluorescent vests, but few shoppers even though stores are open.

Access is still difficult for the public who must circle around to the south and enter from the Shaw Centre, Westin Hotel or parking garage.

The food court was ghostly quiet after doing good early morning business serving cement truck drivers. It was ordered to close too.

Meanwhile, the heavy equipment that surrounded the Rideau Street sinkhole overnight continued the long job of repairing the gaping hole.

Already workers are underground, appearing and disappearing through a hole near the sinkhole’s west side.

Crews have been working through the night to pour concrete into the hole though a pair of long, jointed nozzles visible high above the street.

From above one can see a large amount of concrete already in the hole, though there is still a long way to go.

The work is similar to the 2014 sinkhole a few blocks to the south, which was filled with a concrete “plug” before tunnelling could begin again.

The street, north and south sidewalks and businesses on both sides of Rideau remain closed from Sussex Drive to Dalhousie Street.

The Rideau Centre is mostly open. Passengers getting off buses on the MacKenzie King Bridge can enter the Centre but can’t cut all the way through it to Rideau on their way to work.

The Hudson Bay and the pedestrian overpass are closed.

Some traffic lights in the area are still out and police are directing traffic.

Bus lineups were already daunting before 7 a.m. due to reroutings of both OC Transpo and STO buses to avoid the stricken thoroughfare.

Meanwhile, getting in and out of downtown Ottawa isn’t going to be pretty this week.

All information below is from the City of Ottawa website.

The sinkhole on Rideau Street will mostly push east-west traffic to Laurier Avenue.

The Mackenzie King Bridge is now open to all traffic.

Driving west on Rideau, motorists will need to hang a left on Waller or Besserer street to get to Nicholas Street. From there, it will take a right onto Laurier, then a right onto Elgin and a left onto Albert Street to find an escape out the west end of downtown.

Mackenzie King Bridge between Waller Street and Elgin Street is closed to general traffic for the peak period to accommodate transit movement.

Graphic from City of Ottawa website

Heading east out of downtown, Laurier is the best option for getting through the core. The southbound lanes on Elgin are open.

Anyone trying to access downtown via Colonel By Drive will meet a detour at Main Street.

Finding a way to access a bridge to Quebec on the east side of Parliament Hill could be tricky since no one could access Sussex Drive from Rideau Wednesday afternoon. Outaouais residents heading home from Ottawa’s Parliamentary precinct might consider using the interprovincial bridges west of the Hill.

Now might be a good time for people to consider biking to work or shifting their work schedules to avoid the rush-hour traffic crunches exacerbated by the Rideau sinkhole.

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Eleven items were on the agenda when Eugene Melnyk and John Ruddy met with Mayor Jim Watson and senior city staff in the mayor’s boardroom last August, including “evidence of partnership” and “plans for Kanata.